Sunday, August 24, 2008

Back from Yellow Stone



This years annual Backpacking trip was in Yellow Stone. Those of us who went were: Ben Wadsworth, Kevin & Brad Beck, and me. We started at the Bechler Ranger Station and hiked 8-miles to Dunanda Falls where we stayed for 3 days and 2 nights at our reserved campsite. These falls are awesome! The river that runs off the top of these cliffs- fall over 160 feet into a secluded area surrounded by hot springs and green grass. We were able to climb behind the falls and even walk into them getting a nice massage on our back and neck. We spent hours marinating in the hot pools. We had a sweet view of the falls and the crashing water falling from the cliffs hitting the rocks created a mist that drifted over the hot pools giving a perfect temperature balance of hot soaking water and a cool wet breeze. On Saturday, we used a GPS device and went off trail about 6 miles into the Valley of Death which is a valley of boiling geysers. It's recommended you don't enter the valley, let a lone walk close to these hot pots, but of course, we did. In fact, we climbed beside them up to the top of the mount where we overlooked the hill of boiling holes and sunken pits. After eating MRE's and being eaten alive by mosquitoes, we hiked back to camp. As always it's a great adventure and we look forward to our trip next year... TBA.

2 comments:

Loren said...

I'm in if it's coed, right? :) Just make sure all river fording encounters are done completely clothed!

Loren said...

I'm mean I'm in for next year's trip...